Tag: New Year

Feng Shui for the New Year

Feng Shui for the New Year

  • Betsy Stang

A new year is like a new doorway. A new year offers a new chance to bring who we truly are into manifestation. Each turn of the wheel has its wisdom. What does the wisdom of the New Year hold for you? Your home? Are there obstacles in your way?

In the Northern Hemisphere the New Year follows shortly after winter solstice, the time of year with the longest night, the time of the Great Yin, the Dark Feminine, when the energy of all growing things goes deepest into the ground. We are each given this time to dream of what we might become as the light and growth return.

In the ancient Chinese traditions this is the time of K’un—The Receptive, Earth

The Receptive brings about sublime success,
Furthering through the perseverance of a mare.
If the superior man undertakes something and tries to lead,
He goes astray;
But if he follows, he finds guidance.
It is favorable to find friends in the west and south,
To forego friends in the east and north.
Quiet perseverance brings good fortune.

The elements of spring are sleeping in the dark with the bears and moles and many other animals. In Native American traditions this is a time for dreaming, storytelling, coming together as community and of contacting the spirits of the Earth.

This is not a time to reach outside for answers, but to go deep within.
As we go in, we notice.

Notice your home. What patterns are outmoded? Where are the obstacles to your realization of self? Look at piles of what is not being used. Is there a tool, a skill you have, clothing, computers, cameras that you no longer use? Are they outmoded? Will you use their gifts? If not they need to move along, so give those possessions away. If you are not willing to pass them along, then use them.

Do you have old obligations and debts you have not dealt with? It’s time to clear them too, at least begin to gather the information you will need. It is not possible to truly move into prosperity and abundance, until you are in full integrity with yourself.

All traditions celebrate this time as new birth and the return of sun from its journey to the southern hemisphere. Be gentle with your new beginnings they are infants and need to be nourished until the sap starts to flow in early February.

Make small movements. Allow yourself quiet time. Listen. Clear, clean, restage resting and work places of your life. And bring sustainable light into the time of dark.

In the new year, as you sit cozy in your home, remember there are always those who are cold and hungry or in the dark. Can you pass along something you no longer need to someone who may need it more? Not just people, the animals need your help now too. Can you find a way to share your wisdom and prosperity with those who have no voice? The ancient Chinese masters said: “Feed the Earth, feed the fish and the birds and your world will be abundant.”

May you be a steward of the earth and have a new year full of abundance and joy.

—The Rev. Betsy Stang

New Moon Report for December 24 – New Moon in Capricorn

New Moon Report

By Jeff Jawer

New Moon in Capricorn

Saturday, December 24, 10:06 am PST, 1:06 pm EST

The New Moon in orderly Capricorn is usually good for establishing long-term plans and making the commitment to stick to them. Yet this lunation’s union with transformational Pluto and square with revolutionary Uranus doesn’t fit the conservative profile associated with this sign. Breaking down barriers by tapping into the depths of desire and acting with originality is possible now. Generous Jupiter in Taurus’ harmonious trine to this Sun-Moon conjunction adds a strong dose of common sense and optimism needed to radically change the world in constructive ways.

The Capricorn New Moon symbolizes our New Year resolutions as we aim to reach toward higher levels of success. This gathering of force from the depths of darkness motivates us to greater heights of achievement to come. Yet this year we are building new ladders to climb and inventing goals to pursue as we wed the indomitable sense of purpose of this sign with the innovative and transformational forces of Uranus and Pluto. The hope inspired by the direct turn of Jupiter, the cosmic Santa Claus, reminds us to count our blessings.

Goddesses for Winter Solstice: Eos and Aurora

Goddess Comments & Graphics
Goddesses for Winter Solstice: Eos and AuroraAuthor Unknown  

For the winter solstice I chose Eos and Aurora to represent the goddess. This is the time of beginning light. As the wheel of year turns, the light begins to return. This is a special time of year for me. I was born in December and my name is Dawn. It is appropriate for me to celebrate with these goddesses.

 

Eos is the Greek goddess of dawn. She was the daughter of two early light deities, Hyperion and Thea. The lovely winged creature drove a chariot hitched to four swift steeds, dragging light across the sky; she changed at midday into another goddess, Hemera (“light of day”), and later into sunset goddess Hesperide. Aurora is the Roman goddess of dawn and has similar stories as of the Greek Eos; her name means“light.”

 

She had a strong sexual appetite, similar to that of Aphrodite, and had many lovers. Sometimes she would kidnap handsome men to serve her needs. There is a story relating to the gigantic Orion. When he was mortal he mistreated his wife Merope. He was blinded by Merope’s father and by the wine god Dionysus. In order to restore his sight, Orion was told to bathe his face in Eos’ rays. He stood on a hilltop looking towards the sky. Not only did she restore Orion’s sight, she kidnapped him to serve as her lover. Orion still had a violent nature and eventually was sent to the stars for an offense against Artemis.

 

Eros had another mortal lover, Tithonus. Eos was so attracted to him she wanted immortality for him. Unfortunately Eos did not ask for eternal youth. Tithonus slowly aged and Eos’love faded. She left him, but took kindness on him. She turned him into a cricket and placed him in a cage near her door. This way he could say good-bye to her as she left on her day’s journey

 

 

Preparation: Dark blue, silver or white altar cloth, one white candle. The ritual will take place at sunset or after dark.

 

Prayer: O dear Goddesses of light, we honor you on this dark day as we wait for the sun to be reborn. We have been traveling in the dark with the hope for the return of the light. We ask you Eos and Aurora to join us tonight as we welcome this day. This is a new beginning for us me as we look ahead to the New Year. Thank you for bringing the warmth of light. Blessed Be.

   
~Magickal Graphics~

Winter Solstices Around The World – Amateras

Winter Comments & Graphics
Amateras celebration, Requiem of the Dead (7th century Japan)

In late 7th century Japan, festivities were held to celebrate the reemergence of Amateras, the sun goddess of Japanese mythology, from her seclusion in a cave. The other gods make a loud celebration in order to make Amaterasu come out of her cave. She peeks out, sees her image in a mirror, and the other gods convince her to stay out of the cave; thereby restoring sunlight to the world. Requiems for the dead were held and Manzai and Shishimai were performed throughout the night, awaiting the sunrise. Aspects of this tradition survive on New Years.

  ~Magickal Graphics~

A Little Winter Solstice Lore……

Winter Comments & Graphics

 

The solstice itself may have been a special moment of the annual cycle of the year even during neolithic times. Astronomical events, which during ancient times controlled the mating of animals, sowing of crops and metering of winter reserves between harvests, show how various cultural mythologies and traditions have arisen. This is attested by physical remains in the layouts of late Neolithic and Bronze Age archaeological sites such as Stonehenge in Britain and Newgrange in Ireland. The primary axes of both of these monuments seem to have been carefully aligned on a sight-line pointing to the winter solstice sunrise (Newgrange) and the winter solstice sunset (Stonehenge). Significant in respect of Stonehenge is the fact that the Great Trilithon was erected outwards from the centre of the monument, i.e., its smooth flat face was turned towards the midwinter Sun.

The winter solstice may have been immensely important because communities were not certain of living through the winter, and had to be prepared during the previous nine months. Starvation was common in winter between January and April, also known as the famine months. In temperate climates, the midwinter festival was the last feast celebration, before deep winter began. Most cattle were slaughtered so they would not have to be fed during the winter, so it was almost the only time of year when a supply of fresh meat was available. The majority of wine and beer made during the year was finally fermented and ready for drinking at this time. The concentration of the observances were not always on the day commencing at midnight or at dawn, but the beginning of the pre-Romanized day, which falls on the previous eve.

Since the event is seen as the reversal of the Sun’s ebbing presence in the sky, concepts of the birth or rebirth of sun gods have been common and, in cultures using winter solstitially based cyclic calendars, the year as reborn has been celebrated with regard to life-death-rebirth deities or new beginnings such as Hogmanay’s redding, a New Year cleaning tradition. In Greek mythology, the gods and goddesses met on the winter and summer solstice, and Hades is permitted to enter Mount Olympus (his domain is the underworld so he of course does not get accepted any other time). Also reversal is yet another usual theme as in Saturnalia’s slave and master reversals.

~Magickal Graphics~

Grandma’s House

Grandma’s House

by Amanda Silvers

 

I come from an ample extended family who, when I was younger, all got together to celebrate holidays, birthdays, weddings – any excuse for a party.

The winter holidays were always a frenzy of commotion, with 30-40 people taking part. The children were abundant: my mother had six, my aunt had four and my uncle had five. In addition there were other cousins, aunts, uncles, step siblings, ex-husbands, great aunts and second and third cousins.

My family, particularly my grandmother on my mother’s side, at whose household we held the holiday celebrations, enjoyed many traditions and superstitions about all sorts of things, especially Christmas and the New Year.

For instance, she said: if you don’t hang mistletoe above your front door, you’ll have bad luck. And if you do not kiss the person standing under the mistletoe, people will gossip about you. If you stand beneath the mistletoe and no one kisses you, you will not have a lover for a year.

If an unattached young man wanted to date a young woman, he could begin with a kiss under the mistletoe, and all would know his intentions were honorable. You were then considered an “item” and it was regarded almost an engagement.

The mistletoe customs were a fun and enlivening part of our holiday festivities; even when we were very young, we plotted when to get under it – trying to get the object of our desire to kiss us. This very seldom worked, because most of the time our dad or grandpa or some equally boring adult would kiss us before the inept young men got up the nerve.

Another great kissing practice is the “friendship ball,” generally made with a lemon, orange or lime and studded in some interesting and attractive manner with whole cloves.

The idea is to offer the ball to a person that you want to kiss, who then takes it, pulls out a clove with their teeth, chews it and then kisses the person who gave it to them. Then the one with the ball has the option to return it to the person that initially gave it to them, with another kiss, of course or to pass it on to another person and kiss them.

If someone offered you the kissing ball and you refused to kiss them, no one else would offer you one for the rest of the evening.

This game was fun, but more than a few conflicts were initiated when people had a tiny bit too much to drink and an individual kissed someone else’s wife or husband a few too many times or too passionately. The sparring individuals would ordinarily leave in a huff over that, but the kids found it a perfect way to emulate the “adult game” of kissing.

The New Year’s customs were regarded even more earnestly, if that were possible. We always had a special meal on New Year’s day, a sumptuous, extravagant meal, said to insure that we’d eat well the rest of the year. We toasted in the New Year together, as a family, lest one of us die during the year. We, even the kids, had champagne with strawberries, said to please the small folk into aiding us in accomplishing our desires. We toasted one another’s health, prosperity, good nature, marriage, etc. To shower good wishes on one another was necessary to insure that we’d prosper during the coming year. It has only been in the last few years that I no longer call my whole family long distance on New Year’s eve to carry on the tradition, it was that strongly ingrained in me.

More customs included that the last person to finish the meal on New Year’s day was going to get fat, or have a baby, depending on whether it was a man or woman. The first person to leave the house on New Year’s Day was supposed to kiss everyone in the house and they were to say “See ya later, alligator” before leaving the house. If one person was still asleep, or in the shower or something, the person leaving was to wait.

My grandmother, Ma Mère, was the one who was the fanatic about superstitions, and they carried over into everything, but the Christmas and New Year’s holidays customs were clearly the best. I endeavor to begin an amusing new tradition each year. You may want to use some of these or think of a festive new one for this year, and don’t forget the mistletoe!

Creating Healing Traditions

Creating Healing Traditions

  • Wendy Strgar

“Of one thing I am certain, the body is not the measure of healing – peace is the measure.” ~George Melton

As a child I dreaded the holidays. Weeks of uninterrupted solid family dysfunction were made unbearable by what seemed like everyone else having the best time of the year. I remember one year buying a tiny plastic tree and decorating it with cheap lights and tinsel so I could have some holiday spirit, too. I got sick a lot during those vacations and, sitting feverish in front of the holiday film reruns and advertising, only made me feel worse. I know from being married to a doctor for the last three decades that the holidays are a peak time for illness and emotional breakdowns.

Everyone is carrying around a sack full of something, and for many, it is an emptiness that only seems to get heavier through the years. It is easy to believe that with all the media messages around that we can purchase the fullness we all want to feel. It only took a couple of years of gorging on stuff to realize that stuff never satisfied anyone. Instead, over the years I created our holiday traditions around healing rituals that not only helped me to heal my own past, but have also given my kids a chance to make their own meaning in this time.

We had a lot to work with as our mixed religious backgrounds gave us many holiday choices to reinvent. The Hanukkah ritual is a favorite and it can be adapted to any other holiday or even just used at winter solstice. A celebration of light, for us it became a celebration of recognizing the light of gratitude and wonder in our own lives. Each night we take turns lighting candles and sharing the light of all the many things we have to be grateful for. My children have been profound teachers in this ritual, each with remarkable insights into the beauty and wonder of the world.

Training one’s mind in gratitude is perhaps one’s most worthy pursuit and guaranteed to heal one’s holiday emptiness. In fact, there is no other single human emotional quality that has the power to completely reinvent how you perceive your life and open a door to contentment and abundance. Many of the oldest secret societies in the world have gratitude built into their foundational belief systems. It takes practice if you are not accustomed, but gratitude is how happiness feels when it is imbued with wonder.

The most meaningful gifts at this time of year can’t be bought or even given; they are the transformation that happens in us when we are open to receiving. As a chronic giver, this ability to receive is a fledgling chick just learning to fly in me, but I now understand that letting go of how I think things should be and listening deeply to what is right in front of me is almost always a gift that I would have entirely missed in the past. When we get stuck on how life’s offerings (and you can expand that to include people and stuff) don’t match our expectations, we literally turn away from the love and pleasure that is ours. I see it happen every day; we refuse to be loved when it doesn’t look the way we want it to. Celebrate life this holiday season by allowing and receiving life’s gifts in front of you. Practice releasing your thoughts and preconceived ideas when you open a gift and listen for what might be deeply hidden in the gift in front of you.

All of this healing might make you bold enough to attempt the deepest giving of all- Forgiving. This is when we accept that we won’t get a better past and when we finally understand that the only one being harmed by the grudges we hold are ourselves. Forgiveness, in many ways, is the ultimate act of receiving. You finally free yourself from carrying around the baggage of emptiness filled with justifiable injury and disrespect that might never get proper acknowledgement. Forgiveness is a chance to see beyond what we have always known and create room to get a glimpse of a universe still unknown to us. In these moments, we can drop the stories that have defined our holiday memories for so long.

It is a bold step, creating rituals to heal the holidays; you will be astonished at how it transforms the New Year.

3 Holiday Gifts Just for You

3 Holiday Gifts Just for You

  • Sara, from Institute of HeartMath

Deborah, I and all of us at HeartMath wish all of you and your loved ones a joyous holiday season and wonderful new year. Remember to take some time to connect with your heart during the hustle and bustle and to breathe and flow with ease.

As you scurry from shop to shop in search of the perfect gifts for friends, loved ones and colleagues, it’s nice to know that relying on your intuition and a little heart coherence will guide you in the right direction. Before setting out to shop, give yourself the first gift.

#1 -Prevent the Frazzle

Take a few moments to calm and center yourself. You can use HeartMath’s Inner-Ease™ Technique; and when you are out and about you use the 30-second Quick Coherence® Technique – anywhere – to put things in their proper perspective.

#2 – Replace Something Old With Something New

How about giving you a unique holiday gift that will also prepare you for the new year by replacing something old with something new – within.

Begin by asking your heart’s intuition to make you aware of some emotional habit pattern or behavior that you would like to change. Here are some examples:

  • Procrastination –- Putting off medical check-ups, exercise, other healthy commitments, etc.
  • Vulnerable Communication — Maybe you need to communicate your feelings more often when something bothers you; this prevents storing up judgments and hurt which create energy drain and separation.

These are two examples that most of us experience at times. Ask your intuition to reveal a non-effective habit that you could change and replace with a positive strength. Give it time and your intuitive feelings will alert you when the “just right situation” pops up.

Once you decide what emotional pattern you want to change; then write it down. Also write down your new replacement intention — such as replacing impatience with patience. Make the process fun — like an experiment. This keeps the drama and heaviness out of the practice, making it much easier to succeed.

#3 Don’t Make it a Big Deal

When you catch yourself repeating a pattern you want to change, just acknowledge it and breathe the feeling of ease for a while. This will calm the mental and emotional vibration of the pattern. Then, from your genuine heart, shift into the new replacement attitude or behavior that you chose. Repeat the process each time the old pattern pops up. Be patient and respect that some emotional habits take longer to change but you will see progress — as your heart commitment strengthens.

Important Note:

At times if it seems too hard to shift the old patterns or feelings — don’t stress over it or judge yourself – don’t make it a big deal. Just acknowledge it, then move on and visit it later when the energy has subsided. It soon becomes easier to identify unwanted feelings and attitudes and replace them. Remember it’s a gift you are giving to you, but your friends and loved ones also will benefit.

We hope you will gain as much from opening these gifts for you as Deborah and I have gained from using them. Sharing your comments and stories will be a holiday gift to others and inspiration for the new year.

Correspondences for Yule

Yule Correspondences & Tidbits

 

 

Other Names:
Jul (“wheel”, Old Norse), Saturnalia(Rome ~December 17 & 18), Yuletide(Teutonic), Midwinter, Fionn’s Day, Alban Arthuan, Christmas (Christian~December 25), Xmas, Festival of Sol, Solar/Secular/Pagan New Year

Animals/Mythical beings:
yule goat (nordic), reindeer stag, squirrels, yule cat, Sacred White Buffalo, Kallikantzaroi-ugly chaos monsters(greek), trolls, phoenix, yule elf, jule gnome, squirrels, wren/robin

Gemstones:
cat’s eye, ruby, diamond, garnet, bloodstone

Incense/Oils:
bayberry, cedar, ginger, cinnamon, pine, rosemary, frankincense, myrrh, nutmeg, wintergreen, saffron

Colors:
gold, silver, red, green, white

Tools,Symbols, & Decorations:
bayberry candles, evergreens, holly, mistletoe, poinsettia,mistletoe, lights, gifts, Yule log, Yule tree. spinning wheels, wreaths, bells, mother & child images

Goddesses:
Great Mother, Befana (strega), Holda (teutonic), Isis(egyptian), Triple Goddess, Mary(christian), Tonazin(mexican), Lucina(roman), St. Lucy (swedish),Bona Dea (roman), Mother Earth, Eve(Hebrew), Ops(roman Holy Mother), the Snow Queen, Hertha (German), Frey (Norse)

Gods:
Sun Child, Saturn(rome), Cronos (Greek), Horus/Ra(egyptian), Jesus(christian-gnostic), Mithras(persian), Balder(Norse), Santa Claus/Odin(teutonic), Holly King, Sol Invicta, Janus(God of Beginnings), Marduk (Babylonian)Old Man Winter

Essence:
honor, rebirth, transformation, light out of darkness, creative inspiration, the mysteries, new life, regeneration, inner renewal, reflection/introspection

Dynamics/Meaning:
death of the Holly (winter) King; reign of the Oak (summer) King), begin the ordeal of the Green Man, death & rebirth of the Sun God; night of greatest lunar imbalance; sun�s rebirth; shortest day of year

Purpose:
honor the Triple Goddess, welcome the Sun Child

Rituals/Magicks:
personal renewal, world peace, honoring family & friends, Festival of light, meditation

Customs:
lights, gift-exchanging, singing, feasting, resolutions, new fires kindled, strengthening family & friend bonds, generosity, yule log, hanging mistletoe, apple wassailing, burning candles, Yule tree decorating; kissing under mistletoe; needfire at dawn vigil; bell ringing/sleigh-bells; father yule

Foods:
nuts, apple, pear, caraway cakes soaked with cider, pork, orange, hibiscus or ginger tea, roasted turkey, nuts, fruitcake, dried fruit, cookies, eggnog, mulled wine

Herbs:
blessed thistle, evergreen, moss, oak, sage, bay, bayberry, cedar, pine, frankincense, ginger, holly, ivy, juniper, mistletoe, myrrh, pinecones, rosemary, chamomile, cinnamon, valarion, yarrow

Element:
earth

Threshold:dawn

Yule: Fertility and Ghosts

Yule: Fertility and Ghosts

At the winter solstice, Scandinavians worshipped Frey, god of fertility; further south, the Angli celebrated

December 24 as New Year’s Eve, called Modranecht (mother night), a vigil also connected with fertility rites.

In general, the traditional Yule (from the Norse Iul, meaning wheel) was a feast devoted to fertility and the

ancestors, which passed on to Christmas fecund and ghostly traditions. The Christmas roast pig is kissing cousin
to julgalti, the pig offered to Frey for fertility in the coming year, according to Funk and Wagnall’s. Hence the apple

in its mouth. Similarly, Yule was a time to charm grain and fruit to grow thick. Traditional Scots kept the

Corn Maiden from harvest till Yule and then distributed her to the cattle, according to the Farrars. The Germans

scattered the ashes of the Yule log on the fields for fertility, or kept its last charred pieces to bind in the last

sheaf of the coming harvest. The French retained apiece of Yule log through the year to protect the house

against fire and lightning, to ensure bountiful crops and the easy birth of calves. The solstice was also a weather

predictor, according to Funk and Wagnall’s. In more recent tradition, a white Christmas is said to mean a prosperous
New Year, while a green, cloudy or hot Christmas fills the churchyard.

 

Yule is a time for spirits. European tradition, transferred to the Christian holiday, held that each house should

be clean and prepared for Christmas before the household went to church, so the spirits could inspect it.

Spirits likewise stayed for Christmas dinner. In Sweden, householders set a special table for them. European

folk beliefs say that someone who sits under a pine tree on Christmas Eve can hear the sound of angels —

but death will soon follow. Death also awaits one who hears farm animals converse in the barn that night.

A person born on Christmas can see spirits. Dreams on the Northern Modranecht were believed to foretell
the coming year, according to Nigel Pennick in The Pagan Book of Days.

 

 

 Excerpted From Reclaiming the Winter Solstice by Melanie Fire Salamander

Santa’s Many Faces: Shaman, Sailor, Saint

Santa’s Many Faces: Shaman, Sailor, Saint

Holly, Jolly Old Elf, Other Traditions Show Solstice’s Mongrel Past

by Kathie Dawn

Pagan celebration of Winter Solstice is a tradition with its roots in the ancient past, twining from hunter-gatherer cultures through the Old Religion of Europe, influenced by the rise of Christianity from the Middle East. A look at some of the history can help you design your personal Solstice traditions.

Santa the Shaman

For tens of thousands of years, we humans have celebrated the seasons, the lunar and solar cycles and other natural events. While our bodies are not as strictly regulated as animals’ regarding mating, migration or hibernation, we are deeply affected by our circadian rhythms, the lunar pull and our hormones, which interact with the sun. According to Jeremy Rifkin in Time Wars, “Chronobiology provides a rich new conceptual framework for rethinking the notion of relationships in nature. In the temporal scheme of things, life, earth and universe are viewed as partners in a tightly synchronized dance in which all of the separate movements pulse in unison to create a single organic whole.”

Our ancient ancestors felt this connection without benefit of scientific explanations. Following their hearts and beliefs, they played their part in that dance. “Our holiday celebrations evolve in a cycle. We even refer to it as ‘The Wheel of the Year,'” notes Richard Heinberg in Celebrate the Solstice. “Being aware of the different cycles in life, and understanding our place in them, were a part of our development as humans.” In this cycle, in northern regions, Winter Solstice is often seen as the ending of the old year and the beginning of a new year.

In the early European cultures, a shaman of the Herne/Pan god led Winter Solstice rituals, initiated the new year, rewarded the good, punished the bad, officiated at sacrifices and headed fertility rites, according to Tony van Renterghem in his book When Santa Was A Shaman. This Herne/Pan god went by many names, always portrayed as dark, furry or wearing animal skins, with antlers or horns and – up to the seventeenth century – with an erect penis. Van Renterghem asserts “these (Herne/Pan) shamans sang, danced, jumped over fires in sexually symbolic fertility rites, some involving the besom, the broom-like phallic rod.”

Shamanic traditions survived into historic times. Leaders and kings who wanted to see themselves as divine priest-kings – such as Moses and Alexander the Great – were depicted with shamanic horns. Shamanic horns on Moses shows an overlapping of pagan and Judeo-Christian beliefs that also appears in celebrations at Solstice.

Santa as a Christian and a Sailor

“(Christmas) was a seeming Christian answer to the pagan festival Natalis Solis Invicti, which carried with it the flavour of merrymaking of the Roman Saturnalia,” Vivian Green writes in A New History of Christianity.

Christianity grew up with paganism, specifically Roman paganism. The Roman Empire ruled the land where the cult of Christianity was formed. The beliefs of this new religion were radically different from most pagans’, and many people assumed the group would quickly die, as do many fads. But within 300 years, the cult was considered an unlicensed religion within the Empire. While the Romans had a long history of assimilating the gods of the conquered peoples into their own religion as a way of easing the transition, this was not easily accomplished with Christianity. There were a couple attempts to wipe out the religion, but the Christians maintained their foothold in the Empire by appealing to the lower classes and the illiterate.

Constantine called the Nicean Council of 325 after he reunited the faltering Empire. Having converted to Christianity, he wanted to bring unity and a single leadership to the faith. The emperor was openly hostile to pagans. Peter Partner, in Two Thousand Years-The First Millennium: The Birth of Christianity to the Crusades, tells us that “although pagan beliefs were not in themselves made illegal, many of the institutions that supported pagan worship were in effect proscribed.” A semblance of the Old Religion was allowed to continue, but only lip service was paid to religious tolerance.

As Christianity marched on, entire tribes were converted. Charlemagne instituted a “baptize them or kill them” campaign against the “barbarians” on his borders. The conversion of Germanic peoples to Christianity changed the texture of the Roman Christian church.

Gregory of Tours’ History of the Franks, circa 590, and Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of the English People, circa 720, both expressed anxiousness about the wealth and privilege the church received as rulers and great magnates were converted. The church had to absorb these rulers’ values and culture, with the end result that “Christianity had been successfully assimilated by a warrior nobility,” according to John McManners in The Oxford History of Christianity. This was a “nobility which had no intention of abandoning its culture or seriously changing its way of life, but which was willing to throw its traditions, customs, tastes and loyalties into the articulation of a new faith.”

The mass conversion “did not sweep away pagan culture in a few moments,” writes McManners. “We are reminded every year by the feasts of Christmas, the Winter Solstice celebration of the northerners for which the nativity of Christ is a cheeky Christian misnomer, and of the New Year, in Roman usage the great pagan feast of Lupercalia. In Rome the ancient fertility rites of Carnomania were still celebrated annually in the presence of the pope, as late as the eleventh century.”

Pagan customs persisted within the heart of Christianity, and both faiths coexisted at the outer borders of the new religion’s territory. While many people assume Christmas celebrations have a dark, distant pagan origin, it would be more accurate to say the two grew up together.

As Charlemagne began his conversion process, the legend of St. Nicholas was born. He was said to have been the Bishop of Myra in Lycia, now Turkey. According to “The Origin of Santa Claus” at http://www.religioustolerance.org, “He is alleged to have attended the first council of Nicea; however, his name does not appear on lists of attending bishops.” http://Www.religioustolerance.org calls him a “Christianized version of various pagan sea gods – the Greek god, Poseidon, the Roman god, Neptune, and the Teutonic god, Hold Nickar.” Crichton dates St. Nicholas even earlier, claming he was imprisoned in 303, during the Roman emperor Diocletian’s effort to return the Empire to the worship of its old gods. Later, Constantine supposedly released him.

Nicholas was credited with many miracles, including aiding sailors at sea, providing dowries for young women who otherwise could not marry and using prayer to resurrect three little boys who had been killed and pickled in brine. He performed miracles even after his death on December 6, 342; a mysterious liquid dubbed the Manna of St. Nicholas was collected annually from his tomb and used to heal the faithful. The tales of St. Nicholas spread to Russia as Christianity converted the Eastern world. He became known as “Nikolai Chudovorits,” the Wonder Worker.

By the seventeenth century, the patron saint reached Siberia, where tribes of nomadic horsemen lived. These tribes lived in tents during the summer, but north of the Arctic Circle, they needed something sturdier during winter. Their timber huts became buried in snow, with the only way in or out being by ladder through the smoke holes in the roof. Their annual renewal ceremony, according to Crichton, took place with their shaman entering a trance and climbing on a symbolic journey through the smoke hole. Christian tradition overtaking the indigenous religion, Nikolai became a Super Shaman, acting as a “mystic go-between for the people and their new Christian God.” He would descend the smoke hole, another way of jumping over fire, to deliver gifts.

Nicholas traveled other directions as well, to reach the Normans, who as well as conquering England in the eleventh century engaged as traders and mercenaries in lands they did not control. They ruled the seas, and learned about St. Nicholas at Myra. As they had done with other saints elsewhere, the Normans accepted St. Nicholas into their belief system. Traveling with the Normans, St. Nicholas spread up the rivers and into the towns. A basilica was built in Bari, which became a great shrine to Nicholas. During the Crusades, countless people passed through Bari, making their obligatory stops at the shrines. From there, St. Nicholas traveled throughout the continent and beyond.

Dutch Santa and His Moorish Slave

In the fifteenth century, the Netherlands became a Spanish territory. Trade with the Indies and Americas made the Netherlands an important area. Spaniards filled the government and religious offices, and they brought St. Nicholas with them. To this day, the Dutch “Sinter Klaas” arrives by boat from Spain, dressed as a bishop with the tall hat and miter, riding a white horse. As was fashionable at the time during the Spanish Empire, Sinter Klaas had a Moorish slave who became known as “Zwarte Piet.”

In Crichton’s book, we find that “many of the customs surrounding Sinter Klaas are vestiges of an older, pre-Christian religion. Checking up on naughty children, riding a white horse, and leaving food out at night, can all be traced back to Woden or Odin.” In Finland, St. Nicholas “assumed human form, adopting the older name of ‘Joulupukki,’ which literally means Yule Goat, and again harks back to Odin and the Old Norse customs.”

In van Renterghem’s work, we see that the Herne/Pan side of St. Nicholas was further restored. In 1581, the Dutch declared independence from both the Roman Catholic pope and the Spanish monarchy. Zwarte Piet, Sinter Klaas’ dark servant, was returned to the fore as their shaman-god. When the Church tried to denounce Zwarte Piet as a devil, the Dutch retaliated by drawing him as a Spanish-looking devil, further aiding the Dutch cause. Children were encouraged to be good, or they would be carried off in Zwarte Piet’s bag to Spain.

As the legend of St. Nicholas grew, he often had helpers who were easily traced to pagan roots. According to WorldBook, examples of these helpers include Knecht Ruprecht in Germany, Pere Fouettard in parts of France and Hoesecker in Luxembourg.

The Protestant Reformation ended the religious observance of Christmas temporarily in some places, more permanently in others such as England. This sparked several inventions that seemed even more pagan-oriented than the newly outlawed Christmas. In Germany, the Protestants invented “Christkindl,” “a Christ child figure often played by a girl in a white robe with a veil and a star on her head – another legacy from the Roman Festivals,” from Crichton’s perspective. In Hungary, where Catholicism again replaced Protestantism, “the religious St. Nicholas, the secular Christkindl and the fur-clad Weihnachtsmann (Christmas Man) all exist side by side.”

In North America, the Puritans made it a punishable offense to celebrate Christmas. But when Dutch settlers sailed to Manhattan, the figurehead on the flagship was none other than Sinter Klaas. Gradually the name was changed to Santa Claus.

In England, Queen Victoria and Prince Albert helped re-invent Christmas, and Santa was reintroduced to England around this time. As a British gift-giver, Santa Claus had many rivals including CheapJack, The Lord of Misrule, Knecht Rupert and Father Christmas.

In the United States, Santa Claus was further refined in literature and illustration. In 1822, Clement Clark Moore wrote The Night Before Christmas. In 1863, Thomas Nast used childhood memories of a small fur-clad fellow to create images for Harper’s Magazine. In the 1930s, Santa hawked Coca-Cola, and in 1939, Robert L. May added Rudolph to the reindeer herd. By the 1960s, Santa had become quite commercial. During Vatican II, the Roman Catholic Church concluded that St. Nicholas had never been officially canonized, recognizing the probable source of his notoriety as being pagan gods and legends.

Many other modern Solstice traditions have such pagan origins. Mistletoe was sacred to the Greeks and Romans as well as to the Celts, who according to When Santa Was A Shaman, “called this mistletoe ‘Thunder-Besom’ (from the besom, or broom, an ancient sexual symbol of male and female organs)” – which besom dates back to the Herne/Pan shamans. “The Germanic tribes believed that all who passed under the mistletoe were kissed (blessed with sexual power) by Freya, their goddess of fertility.” The modern practice of a kiss beneath the mistletoe could still be seen as a minor fertility rite.

Whether performing in a pageant or dressing up as the jolly old elf for the kiddies, putting on Winter Solstice costumes also has ancient origins. Crichton notes that “in all primitive religions when a player dons a mask he is deemed no longer an ordinary man. For himself and those who take part in the ritual, he embodies the spirit he is impersonating.”

It should come as no surprise that we continue with rituals and practices that some believe are 10,000 years old. Children still play with toys from the 5000-year-old tale of Noah’s Ark. We still use the names of 2000-year-old Germanic and Greco-Roman pagan gods and festivals to identify the months and the days of the week. So too, we keep Santa in his many masks.

How Pagans Can Renew the World

Winter Solstice in northern climes is often a time of world renewal and the New Year. Theodor H. Gaster’s New Year: Its History, Customs, and Superstitions outlines the rites of nearly all ancient New Year and world renewal ceremonies as following the same four steps: mortification, purgation, invigoration and jubilation.

In mortification, whose root-word “mort” means death, it is easy to see death symbolized in how the life of the people and the land slowed down. Often during this time, no business was transacted. The king was either ritually or actually slain, depending on the custom. Sometimes this involved mock combat between Life and Death, or Old Year and New Year. His death paid for the evil of the past year.

Next, the community purged itself of all evil influences through fires, ringing of bells and cleansing with water. Life was then invigorated with positive steps that symbolized renewal. The people and the land were made fertile and productive again by a deliberate release of sexual energy. Then, in jubilant celebration, feasts and other merriment were enjoyed. Life had prevailed. Nature and the community would continue for another year.

Drawing on this outline and the superabundance of Solstice ideas and examples, today’s pagan can create a personal tradition. To gain a deeper connection between you and the cycle of Solstice, try adding something new. Visit a sacred site, or spend time with the land where you live. Visit a place where you can observe wild animals. Where possible, plant a tree, or some green plants indoors. Watch the sunrise and the sunset on Solstice Day, and feel a connection with your ancestors. Play the Super Shaman for your friends and family. Attach a note to each gift you give with something amusing about the person, and have everyone read the note aloud.

Food and drink can play a part. Adopt a certain dish to be made only at this special time of year. Or pass around a large chalice, reminiscent of the English Wassail bowl, pronouncing blessings or words of jest to the person who receives it from you.

However you do it, make the Solstice holiday a time of getting rid of that which weighed you down in the past and tying up the year’s loose ends. Find ways to symbolize the renewal that the New Year brings, and mark the time most joyously. Whether you celebrate alone, in a small close-knit group or as one of thousands, have a happy Solstice.

Welcome, Darkest Night

Welcome, Darkest Night

by Janice Van Cleve

I love this season of growing dark. The night starts earlier to cast its blanket of quiet and peace upon the land and calls me to wrap up what I am doing. Early darkness coaxes me to sit down to supper at six o’clock instead of nine, so I can digest properly before I go to sleep. Longer nights delay the prodding light of morning, so I can grab a few more winks. It encourages me to work more efficiently with the daylight that I do have. The dark time of the year is a healthy time for me.

It is a healthy time for plants and animals as well. Perennials focus on building up their root systems during the dark time, and annuals spread their seeds. Leaves fall to the ground to be leached and composted into next year ‘s soil. Animals feast on the yield of crops and orchards and store up surplus to see them through the winter and spring. In the dark time, all nature refocuses on renewing itself, sloughing off that which is no longer necessary and nurturing the best for the new year.

For northern tribes who lived where night falls longest and deepest, the dark time of the year was a time of great creativity. Bards honed their songs and added new verses for the entertainment and education of their audiences. Farmers turned to woodworking to fashion furniture or to decorate the interiors of their homes. Tradespeople made cloth, tools, jewelry, clothes and other goods to sell the merchants when they returned in the spring. Cooks became more and more inventive as the darkness lingered and the variety in the larder grew more limited. Even today, most school and university classes are scheduled for the winter months. In the business world, new product releases from software to movies to automobiles are debuted during this time.

In short, the dark time of the year is a busy, industrious and very creative time for nature and for human activity. So why in modern society does it get such a bad rap? The ancients certainly figured out that spring followed winter every year, and they used their skills to create solstice calculators like Stonehenge to predict how much more winter they had left. Were they really immobilized in fear of the dark, waiting for solstice to give them hope of spring? Or, on the other hand, did they grumble at solstice that they only had a few more months to play, eat, sing and finish their carvings before they had to get back out and work the farm again? Ancient peoples, after all, did not create surpluses for profit or a year-round global economy. They simply raised enough to sustain themselves so they could devote their time to crafts and play.

Perhaps it was the new religion of Christianity that tried to separate light from dark, exalting the former and disparaging the latter. Perhaps it was Christians’ idea to create fear of the dark so they could make light seem like a sort of salvation. However, nature doesn’t seem to need saving from anything, except from human greed. Nature goes on, year after year, with summer and winter alternating appropriate to the latitude. Nature values the dark time as much as the light and uses both to its advantage. The dark time is healthy and wholesome. It is as necessary for life as rain and sun, decay and bacteria.

And so it is appropriate that our pagan new year starts with Samhain, the beginning of the darkest time of the year. We rest before we work. We focus inwardly before we focus on the wider world. We sleep, we feast, we meditate, and we renew ourselves so that when spring’s light returns and calls us to next year’s work we can respond with new health and strength. These are gifts of the dark time. We are fortunate to have them!

About Samhain: A Guide to the Sabbat’s Symbolism

About Samhain: A Guide to the Sabbat’s Symbolism

by Arwynn MacFeylynnd

Editor’s note: Readers have asked for Widdershins to run a short piece in each paper to give a guide to the symbolism of the current Sabbat for new pagans and witches. Following is the first of these.

Date: October 31.

Alternative names: All Hallow’s Eve, Halloween, the Witches’ New Year, Third Festival of Harvest.

Primary meaning: Samhain, pronounced “sow-en” — not “sam hain” — marks the beginning of the cold months or winter; it is the Day Between the Years. Primary elements to contemplate are endings and beginnings, change, reflection and reincarnation. Celebrations honor the dead, ancestors, the wisdom of the Crone and the death of the God.

Symbols: Cauldrons, jack o’ lanterns, masks, balefires, besoms (brooms), bats, owls, ravens and the ever-present witch and black cat.

Colors: Orange, black, brown, golden yellow and red.

Gemstones: Carnelian, jet, obsidian and onyx.

Herbs: Aborvitae (yellow cedar), acorn, allspice, apple, autumn flowers, catnip, corn, chrysanthemums, dittany of Crete, fall leaves (especially oak), ferns, flax, fumitory, gourds, grains, hazel, heather, mandrake, mugwort, mullein, nightshade, pear, pumpkin, sage, straw, thistle, turnip, wormwood.

Gods and goddesses: Crone goddesses, the Father or dying gods, gods of the underworld or death including Arawn, Cerridwen, Cernunnos, the Dagdha, Dis Pater, Hades, Hecate, Hel, Inanna, Ishtar, Kali, Lilith, Macha, Mari, the Morrigan, Osiris, Pomona, Psyche, Rhiannon, Samana, Sekhmet, Teutates and Taranis.

Customs and myths: In England, it formerly was the custom to go “a-souling” on this night, asking for little “soul cakes” and offering prayers for the dead in return.

In the British Isles, lanterns carved out of turnips (in the New World pumpkins) were at one time used to provide light on a night when bale fires were lit, and all households let their fires go out so they could be rekindled from the new fire.

Another custom was the Dumb Supper, in which an extra plate was laid for the dead and the meal was eaten in silence. Bobbing for apples, roasting nuts in the fire and baking cakes that contained tokens of luck are ancient methods of telling the future now. Ducking for apples was a divination for marriage. The first person to bite an apple would be the first to marry in the coming year. Apple peeling was a divination to see how long your life would be. The longer the unbroken apple peel, the longer your life was destined to be.

In Scotland, people would place stones in the ashes of the hearth before retiring for the night. Anyone whose stone had been disturbed during the night was said to be destined to die during the coming year.

Honoring Ancestors

Autumn is the season when the dark of the year arrives. It is a time to turn inward and reflect on our ancestors and on those we love who have crossed to the other side of the veil. Begin building energy to welcome your loved ones on Samhain by placing photos or mementos of them on a table, bookshelf, or windowsill in the east area of a room. (East is the direction associated with ancestors and family.) Along with ancestral photos, you may want to include goddess images of Hecate, Cerridwen, Kali, Inanna, or Cybele. Samhain is when the goddess enters her crone aspect as Dark Mother and Wise One. She takes away what she has created, but in her dark womb is the seed of the next New Year. All that is old is new again.
 
By: Sedwin

Samhain Blessings

Samhain Blessings
 
The festival of Samhain marks the end of the third and final harvest of the year. The last of the fruit and vegetables have ripened and are now stored away, the seeds set aside for Spring planting. The bright colours of Autumn leaves signal their death knell, and soon they are borne away on the cold and bitter winds. Left behind are the naked branches, skeletal limbs reaching up to the skies. It is a time of death and decay, and it is no surprise that our thoughts may gravitate toward sorrow and loss, for this is the beginning of the dark half of the year. It is not surprising that many cultures pay their respects to the ancestors and departed family members at this time of year.
It is customary to light bonfires on Samhain eve to burn away the miseries of the past year. Hearth fires are extinguished and relit with the Samhain flame, ensuring a fresh start to the New Year. People would often set up two bonfires side by side and walk through them as a purification ritual.
Ritual feasts to honour the dead often occur. A place at the table is reserved for the departed and stories are shared. This may also offer an opportunity to converse with the dead about unresolved issues and then let them go.
Dressing up in costumes is an ancient custom which is sometimes called Soul-caking. Mummers would visit houses and stage a play to honour the dead which consisted of a challenge, a battle, a death and a rebirth. Special cakes were handed out to the performers afterwards. Children would dress up and go door to door, offering songs in exchange for food or coins. Large turnips were hollowed out, carved with faces and placed in windows to ward off evil spirits.
It is said that the veil between the worlds is thinnest at this time of year and is an excellent time for divination. Toss a peeled apple over your shoulder, the shape that arises will be the first letter of your future spouse’s name. Egg whites dropped in a glass of water foretells the number of future children. Try tossing some nuts onto a fire, if the nuts stay together, so will you and your spouse. Or, try to pick up as many warm nuts from the fire as possible, an even number indicates faithful love, an odd number indicates betrayal. Toss a single nut on the fire and make a wish. If the nut burns brightly, the wish will come true. Another activity is to set out three bowls, one with clear water, one with cloudy water, and the third one empty. Determine what each of the bowls will mean, for example, the clear water indicates success, the cloudy water struggle, and the third failure. Or simply yes, no, maybe. Blindfold a friend and have her ask a question then dip a hand into one of the bowls discover the outcome.
Samhain, though primarily a festival of darkness and death, also marks a new beginning. This is the Witch’s New Year and though we may look on the past with regret and sorrow, we know that the Wheel continues to turn, and fresh opportunities for growth and transformation are immanent.

Seasons of the Witch

 

  • The Witches New Year.
  • Halloween
  • Samhain
  • Magic Day
  • Druid’s Samhain Autumn Sun Festival.
  • Ancient Roman Feast To Pomona.
  • All Hallow’s Eve, 10th Century.
  • All Saint’s Eve.
  • Old Celtic New Year’s Eve. Struggle Between Old & New Years.
  • Festival Of Inner Worlds.
  • Joseph Campbell, 83, Dies. Mythologist.1987
  • National UNICEF Day
  • Beggar’s Night
  • Apple & Candle Night (Wales)
  • National Caramel Apple Day
  • 10/31 eve to 11/2 eve: Old Sumerian & Canaanite-Hebrew fast recalling the descent of Inanna/Astarte (Goddess of Life) to the Underworld. Ereshkigal/Sheol (Goddess of Death and Rebirth) detained Her until She agreed to have Dumuzi/Baal (God of Life and Death) remain there each Winter.
  • 10/31 eve to 11/2 eve: Samhain–Old Celtic New Year and feast of Morrigan/Cerridwen (Goddess of Death) and Balor/Beli (the Holly King – God of the Waning Sun).
  • 10/31 eve to 11/2 eve: Old Teutonic fast marking Hod (God of Darkness) unintentionally killing Balder (God of Light), and devoted Nanna (Goddess of Flowers) dying of a broken heart.
  • 10/31 eve to 11/6 eve: Mid-Autumn/Day of the Dead/Hallowmas–Festival marking the transformation of life to death – the end of the agricultural year, departure of migrating and hibernating animals, and decay and death of vegetal and animal life. Observed by remembering departed ancestors and contemplating one’s own mortality.
  • Witchcraft Hysteria (This isn’t a game-very interesting) http://www.nationalgeographic.com/salem/index.html
 
Excerpted From GrannyMoon’s Morning Feast Archives, Earth, Moon and Sky and/or School of Seasons
.
Remember the ancient ways and keep them sacred!

Samhain History

Samhain History

By Patti Wigington, About.com Guide

What is Samhain?:

Samhain is known by most folks as Halloween, but for Wiccans and Pagans it’s considered a Sabbat to honor the ancestors who came before us. It’s a good time to contact the spirit world with a seance, because it’s the time when the veil between this world and the next is at its thinnest.

Myths and Misconceptions:

Contrary to a popular Internet-based (and Chick Tract-encouraged) rumor, Samhain was not the name of some ancient Celtic god of death, or of anything else, for that matter. Religious scholars agree that the word Samhain (pronounced “sow-en”) comes from the Gaelic “Samhuin,” but they’re divided on whether it means the end or beginning of summer. After all, when summer is ending here on earth, it’s just beginning in the Underworld. Samhain actually refers to the daylight portion of the holiday, on November 1st.

All Hallow Mass:

Around the eighth century or so, the Catholic Church decided to use November 1st as All Saints Day. This was actually a pretty smart move on their part – the local pagans were already celebrating that day anyway, so it made sense to use it as a church holiday. All Saints’ became the festival to honor any saint who didn’t already have a day of his or her own. The mass which was said on All Saints’ was called Allhallowmas – the mass of all those who are hallowed. The night before naturally became known as All Hallows Eve, and eventually morphed into what we call Halloween.

The Witch’s New Year:

Sunset on Samhain is the beginning of the Celtic New Year. The old year has passed, the harvest has been gathered, cattle and sheep have been brought in from the fields, and the leaves have fallen from the trees. The earth slowly begins to die around us.

This is a good time for us to look at wrapping up the old and preparing for the new in our lives. Think about the things you did in the last twelve months. Have you left anything unresolved? If so, now is the time to wrap things up. Once you’ve gotten all that unfinished stuff cleared away, and out of your life, then you can begin looking towards the next year.

Honoring the Ancestors:

For some of us, Samhain is when we honor our ancestors who came before us. If you’ve ever done genealogy research, or if you’ve had a loved one die in the past year, this is the perfect night to celebrate their memory. If we’re fortunate, they will return to communicate with us from beyond the veil, and offer advice, protection and guidance for the upcoming year.

If you want to celebrate Samhain in the Celtic tradition, spread the festivities out over three consecutive days. You can hold a ritual and feast each night. Be flexible, though, so you can work around trick-or-treating schedules!

Samhain Rituals:

Try one — or all — of these rituals to celebrate Samhain and welcome the new year.

  • Celebrating the End of the Harvest
  • Samhain Ritual for Animals
  • Honoring the Ancestors
  • Hold a Seance at Samhain
  • Host a Dumb Supper
  • Honor the God and Goddess at Samhain
  • Celebrating the Cycle of Life and Death
  • Ancestor Meditation

Halloween Traditions:

Even if you’re celebrating Samhain as a Pagan holiday, you may want to read up on some of the traditions of the secular celebration of Halloween:

  • Black Cats
  • Jack O’Lanterns
  • Trick or Treating

About Samhain: A Guide to the Sabbat’s Symbolism

About Samhain: A Guide to the Sabbat’s Symbolism

by Arwynn MacFeylynnd

 

Date: October 31.

Alternative names: All Hallow’s Eve, Halloween, the Witches’ New Year, Third Festival of Harvest.

Primary meaning: Samhain, pronounced “sow-en” — not “sam hain” — marks the beginning of the cold months or winter; it is the Day Between the Years. Primary elements to contemplate are endings and beginnings, change, reflection and reincarnation. Celebrations honor the dead, ancestors, the wisdom of the Crone and the death of the God.

Symbols: Cauldrons, jack o’ lanterns, masks, balefires, besoms (brooms), bats, owls, ravens and the ever-present witch and black cat.

Colors: Orange, black, brown, golden yellow and red.

Gemstones: Carnelian, jet, obsidian and onyx.

Herbs: Aborvitae (yellow cedar), acorn, allspice, apple, autumn flowers, catnip, corn, chrysanthemums, dittany of Crete, fall leaves (especially oak), ferns, flax, fumitory, gourds, grains, hazel, heather, mandrake, mugwort, mullein, nightshade, pear, pumpkin, sage, straw, thistle, turnip, wormwood.

Gods and goddesses: Crone goddesses, the Father or dying gods, gods of the underworld or death including Arawn, Cerridwen, Cernunnos, the Dagdha, Dis Pater, Hades, Hecate, Hel, Inanna, Ishtar, Kali, Lilith, Macha, Mari, the Morrigan, Osiris, Pomona, Psyche, Rhiannon, Samana, Sekhmet, Teutates and Taranis.

Customs and myths: In England, it formerly was the custom to go “a-souling” on this night, asking for little “soul cakes” and offering prayers for the dead in return.

In the British Isles, lanterns carved out of turnips (in the New World pumpkins) were at one time used to provide light on a night when bale fires were lit, and all households let their fires go out so they could be rekindled from the new fire.

Another custom was the Dumb Supper, in which an extra plate was laid for the dead and the meal was eaten in silence. Bobbing for apples, roasting nuts in the fire and baking cakes that contained tokens of luck are ancient methods of telling the future now. Ducking for apples was a divination for marriage. The first person to bite an apple would be the first to marry in the coming year. Apple peeling was a divination to see how long your life would be. The longer the unbroken apple peel, the longer your life was destined to be.

In Scotland, people would place stones in the ashes of the hearth before retiring for the night. Anyone whose stone had been disturbed during the night was said to be destined to die during the coming year.

Welcome, Darkest Night

Welcome, Darkest Night

by Janice Van Cleve

I love this season of growing dark. The night starts earlier to cast its blanket of quiet and peace upon the land and calls me to wrap up what I am doing. Early darkness coaxes me to sit down to supper at six o’clock instead of nine, so I can digest properly before I go to sleep. Longer nights delay the prodding light of morning, so I can grab a few more winks. It encourages me to work more efficiently with the daylight that I do have. The dark time of the year is a healthy time for me.

It is a healthy time for plants and animals as well. Perennials focus on building up their root systems during the dark time, and annuals spread their seeds. Leaves fall to the ground to be leached and composted into next year ‘s soil. Animals feast on the yield of crops and orchards and store up surplus to see them through the winter and spring. In the dark time, all nature refocuses on renewing itself, sloughing off that which is no longer necessary and nurturing the best for the new year.

For northern tribes who lived where night falls longest and deepest, the dark time of the year was a time of great creativity. Bards honed their songs and added new verses for the entertainment and education of their audiences. Farmers turned to woodworking to fashion furniture or to decorate the interiors of their homes. Tradespeople made cloth, tools, jewelry, clothes and other goods to sell the merchants when they returned in the spring. Cooks became more and more inventive as the darkness lingered and the variety in the larder grew more limited. Even today, most school and university classes are scheduled for the winter months. In the business world, new product releases from software to movies to automobiles are debuted during this time.

In short, the dark time of the year is a busy, industrious and very creative time for nature and for human activity. So why in modern society does it get such a bad rap? The ancients certainly figured out that spring followed winter every year, and they used their skills to create solstice calculators like Stonehenge to predict how much more winter they had left. Were they really immobilized in fear of the dark, waiting for solstice to give them hope of spring? Or, on the other hand, did they grumble at solstice that they only had a few more months to play, eat, sing and finish their carvings before they had to get back out and work the farm again? Ancient peoples, after all, did not create surpluses for profit or a year-round global economy. They simply raised enough to sustain themselves so they could devote their time to crafts and play.

Perhaps it was the new religion of Christianity that tried to separate light from dark, exalting the former and disparaging the latter. Perhaps it was Christians’ idea to create fear of the dark so they could make light seem like a sort of salvation. However, nature doesn’t seem to need saving from anything, except from human greed. Nature goes on, year after year, with summer and winter alternating appropriate to the latitude. Nature values the dark time as much as the light and uses both to its advantage. The dark time is healthy and wholesome. It is as necessary for life as rain and sun, decay and bacteria.

And so it is appropriate that our pagan new year starts with Samhain, the beginning of the darkest time of the year. We rest before we work. We focus inwardly before we focus on the wider world. We sleep, we feast, we meditate, and we renew ourselves so that when spring’s light returns and calls us to next year’s work we can respond with new health and strength. These are gifts of the dark time. We are fortunate to have them!

A Year and a Day – Origins and Applications

A Year and a Day – Origins and Applications

Author: del Luna la Madre’ Temple
I have seen the following in many, many posts. Competently trained Priests and Priestesses look at these words, and say to themselves – “Oh, You Truly Have No Idea”. The Phrase that I am referring to is:

“I have been studying for a Year and a Day and so I am now close to being ready for Initiation.” or “I am half way through my Year and a Day and so I now have questions about where do I find a group to Initiate into?”, There are other varying forms of this, and if you read through the many thousands of posts, you will surely come across that variety.

The Truth of the matter is that training in the Crafte does NOT take a Year and A Day. It sometimes takes much longer. Wikipedia lists the following information under a year and a day:

The year and a day rule was a principle of English law holding that a death was conclusively presumed not to be murder (or any other homicide) if it occurred more than a year and one day since the act (or omission) that was alleged to have been its cause. The rule also applied to the offence of assisting with a suicide.

• The period of a year and a day was a convenient period to represent a significant amount of time. Its use was generally as a jubilee or permanence.

• Historically (England) the period that a couple must be married for a spouse to have claim to a share of inheritable property.

• In mediaeval Europe, a runaway serf became free after a year and a day.

• When a judgment has been reversed a fresh action may be lodged within a year and a day, regardless of the statute of limitations. U.S.

• Note: a lunar year (13 lunar months of 28 days) plus a day is a solar year (365 days) . Also those 366 days would be a full year even if a leap day were included.

Magickally speaking- the Year and a Day rule is a hold over from the Masons. Their training period for an Apprentice was a year and a day of service and hard work. Gerald Gardner – the father of the modern day Crafte movement derived much of his early work on the Crafte from his Masonic roots, using the model of the Co-Masonic Lodge and its training as a basis for some of the early rules of the Crafte. It is known that in the early texts that Gardner wrote, that there were EXTREME similarities to Masonry, OTO and Golden Dawn.

As I stated before, A Year and A Day is quite misleading when it comes to serious study within the Crafte. It is a guide that is used by most of the Traditions to indicate that this is the MINIMUM amount of time that can be spent working toward a degree. In some cases, it is the minimum amount of time that one is allowed to spend working on one area of training within the Crafte itself.

So before you embark on telling the world that you have spent the last Year and a Day working on your studies of the Crafte, think, will those who I tell this to take me seriously. Can I really hold my own when questioned about what I have learned? Am I still unsure about the names and purposes of Deity within the Crafte? Do I understand that there is much more to learn and that I have only scratched the tip of the iceberg? Have I investigated books and other learning tools that are not just mainstream Crafte?

These are some serious questions that you need to ask yourself. Why? Because, if you do find others who are serious about their Crafte, be prepared to be asked some serious questions in conversation. Remember, they have studied long, and hard for the information they possess, their Oaths in many cases restrict them from passing on the intricacies of their Faith. Many of them feel that it is NOT their job to school the masses about the simplicities of the Crafte and its terminology.

If you want to be taken seriously, then learn the proper terminology, understand the terminology, and by all means – don’t act like a KNOW IT ALL. No One Knows It All. And a Good Teacher, High Priest or High Priestess will never be ashamed to tell you that they don’t know it all, but by their years of practice, not just studying or reading, have given them sufficient knowledge that they know that there is so much more out there to learn, that they will always be a student and practitioner.

So think before you infer that you have been studying for a year and a day, and that now you are properly prepared in the Crafte and therefore you should be granted all sorts of privileges, because of your studying for that year and a day. You now deserve to be taken as a serious authority on some level.

If you think this, say this, write this, be prepared for a good deal of laughter. But also be aware that there may also be some that are not laughing, and those are the ones that you need to be cautious of, for they are the ones that may see you as their next target of humiliation or degradation.

To ere on the side of humility in this case is a good thing…

Something to also consider is that even after you have studied long and hard, that is no guarantee that the information that you have studied is even correct and can withstand closer scrutiny, that, you are certain to receive if you spout off about ‘studying for a year and a day.’ You may have only read all the information published by one author or one publishing company. There is so much more to the Crafte that is not found in any book.

Nothing can replace pure and sincere experience and practice. So think about your Year and a Day, and ask: How far have I come and how far do I want to go? Have I experienced all that I can or do I need to experience more? Your answers might surprise you!

Wishing you Blessings Upon Your Path!